Redcape Hotel Group Management today announced full year FY20 results for Redcape Hotel Group (ASX:RDC), offering a solid perspective on the impact of COVID-19.
RDC’s distributable earnings were on track for an increase of 22.1pc in the first eight months of the financial year against the previous corresponding period.
The final result saw an overall decline for the full year of 20.1pc. By comparison, FY19 produced distributable earnings of $46.5 million and distributions of 8.75cps, equating to a 7.85pc yield.
Like For Like (LFL) Revenue growth pre-shutdown was 6.1pc across the group, with positive trading in all departments and operating EBITDA up 17.2pc. By 30 June operating EBITDA was down 14.8pc.
The best results during the shutdown came via the off-premise department, which remained operational and performed strongly.
RDC’s full year numbers encompass capital management, seeing $98.1m realised through sale of the St George Hotel, Belmore for $47.1m and Royal Hotel, Granville for $51.0m, against $36.5m spent acquiring Eden Brewhouse, Redbank Plains for $11.5m and Kings Head Tavern, South Hurstville for $27.0m.
The group’s ongoing refurbishment program was reassessed in light of interrupted trading, with the focus diverted to smaller, high-priority projects.
Redcape’s investor presentation notes the group promotes responsible gambling tools, including Voluntary Pre-Commitment and Player Activity Statements, and offers simplified access to counselling, support and exclusion programs.
FY20 gaming revenue was reported at $157.1m, representing 60.59pc of the $259.3m total revenue.
Expense control is said to have exceeded initial estimates, reducing operating costs at the end of the period to $2.4m per month, against $101.4m held in Cash and Cash Equivalents.
All venues were fully prepared and open again in early July, delivering strong revenue; RDC notes operating EBITDA for July 2020 was in fact higher than July 2019.
“We have been able to emerge from the shutdown with our venues once again becoming community-centric hubs that deliver the customer experiences for which we are valued,” offers Redcape CEO, Dan Brady.
“Our investment in people and facilities over the long term had put us in a good position ahead of COVID-19 and our deliberate and calm approach to crisis management during the shutdown has enabled a strong early return to trade.
“We were well positioned for re-opening with a robust balance sheet, highly engaged workforce and customer base, and a clear focus on delivering an end to end customer experience that aimed to reduce hassles and reconnect customers to their communities within COVID-19 operating regulations. Metrics of Staff Satisfaction and Customer Net Promoter Score continue to provide lead indicators that we are living our values and achieving our purpose, enabling a drive to higher levels of performance and strong distributable earnings.”
